Clean Enough

Let's get down and dirty to talk about cleaning.  It's not the most fun thing I do each week, but I've found some things that help make it more bearable.  First, let me tell you a little about my house so you will know what I am dealing with.  I live in an old two-story home with hardwood floors in every room, even the bathrooms.  It's about 1,800 square feet with a living room, dining room, eat-in kitchen, 1/2 bath and laundry/office on the main level.  The upstairs has 2 bedrooms, a playroom and a full bath. There are three main things that helped the task of cleaning become less of a chore to me.

1.Define what it means to you to have a clean house.  This may sound strange, but just think about it for a minute.  To you does a clean house mean spotless and shiny like a magazine photo?  Does it mean everything is super-organized?  Does it mean that toys are put away each night before bed?  Does it mean you have clean towels each time you shower?  None of these answers is right or wrong.  Determining your expectations for a clean home will help you create an action plan.

I used to feel that for my house to be clean everything needed to be in it's place, the floors mopped, the bathroom sparking and generally looking like a magazine photo.  But there is one problem with this idea:  I don't have a live-in maid and I had two little boys 4 1/2 years ago.  When I had this mindset it was truly a rare occasion that my home met this pie-in-the-sky expectation.  So I lowered my expectations, got rid of the guilt of never measuring up and now take pride in my house that is "clean enough". 

2.Organization will truly change your life.  Some people are born organizers and some aren't. If organizing doesn't come naturally to you get an organized friend to help you out.  Watch and learn from him or her so you can develop this skill yourself.  I feel that if everything in your home has a designated place you have conquered  80% of the battle of keeping a house that is  "clean enough".

I will cover organization more thoroughly in another post but here are a few general tips to get you started organizing.  Put like items together, i.e. all spices in one drawer.  Put items used together in the same place, i.e. stamps and envelopes in the same drawer near where you will use them.  Baskets and bins are useful in every room.  If you haven't used it in a while sell or donate it to clear up more room.

3.  Develop a strategy for keeping up on your housework.  By doing this you create an action plan rather than just "wishing somebody would clean up this mess!"  For me this includes daily, weekly and bi-weekly tasks.  Since developing a schedule for cleaning my home I no longer look at something that's getting dirty, like the bathroom sink, and think, "Ugh!  When am I going to find the time to mess with that?"  I now think, "Well, that's no big deal because it will get cleaned up on Friday."  Sticking to the schedule actually allows me more freedom because I know it will get done.  I don't dread trying to figure out when to squeeze one more thing in my schedule because that task is already scheduled. 

I am sharing my schedule to give you an example of what this looks like at my house.  My way obviously isn't the only way, but hopefully this will help you have a jumping off point if you don't know where to  start. Every day or two I keep up on clutter by putting things away.  It only takes a very few minutes because it's done regularly and because everything has a place.  I also sweep the kitchen floor as it tends to be a crumb magnet for two little boys.  If I make a mess on the stove it gets cleaned up when it happens. The table and counters are wiped after use.  The playroom gets picked up two or three times a week.  Every Thursday is when the towels and sheets get washed.  Other laundry gets done as needed.  I fold and put my clothes and the boys' clothes away, but my husband is responsible for his. His closet is messier than I would like, but it's his space and it has a door so I don't worry about it. 

I alternate cleaning my first floor and second floor on Fridays.  This means my whole house isn't "magazine ready", but remember I gave up that expectation.  On the weeks I clean the first floor I dust, sweep all rooms with the vacuum and broom where appropriate, clean the 1/2 bath, clean the stainless steel appliances, mop the kitchen floor, and clean the toilet and sinks in the upstairs bath. I mop other rooms as needed.  Since I have been keeping up on other kitchen tasks they don't have to be done on "cleaning day".  The weeks I clean the upstairs I dust, sweep, clean the entire bathroom, sweep the high traffic area in my living room and clean the 1/2 bath downstairs.  I also vacuum the high traffic area on my front porch each time I have the sweeper out to help eliminate some dirt from even getting in the house.  

So that's what I do.  It might not sound like enough to some, it might sound like too much to others, but this system really works for me.  My "cleaning day" takes about two hours each week to complete.  It's so worth it to me to designate the time to get it done.  I honestly don't dread it because I love the feeling of knowing that my house is "clean enough". 

The Magic Wand

How many of you really love cleaning your house?  I know there are people out there who really do enjoy this activity, but I am not one of them.  However, I do enjoy the feeling of having everything in it's place and rooms that are fresh looking and smelling.  I recently overhauled how I clean.  I also re-examined my expectations for living in a clean house with two little boys who make a messes faster than the Tazmanian Devil!  Wouldn't it be nice to wave a magic wand and viola, a clean house? Alas, the only wand I have is a toilet wand. 

In my next post I will share my thoughts about how I clean my own home. But today I want to address a large majority of women: those who work full-time outside the home and have a spouse who works full-time.  Why are you cleaning your own home?  You ladies have a magic wand at your disposal; it's called delegation.  A cleaning person is not just a luxury for those who have a six-figure income.  It's a necessity for a two-income family.  Back in the days where most women stayed home it was just expected that she did the majority of the housework. This made sense.  The husband worked away all day and someone had to take care of the home.  So why are many people still in the mind set, even in our "enlightened" society, that most of the housework falls on the woman's shoulders even when she is gone all day long just like her husband?  On top of that we have a mountain of activities kids are involved in these days.  Enough already!  Find someone to clean for you on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and see how your life changes. 

"Well, that's high and mighty of her saying that," I can hear you say.  "She doesn't know my financial situation." You are right, I don't know your financial situation, but I do know this:  peace of mind is priceless.  Coming home to a messy house where you struggle to find what you need or are grossed out by the condition of the bathroom zaps your energy.  Are there ways you can find some "extra" money hidden in your budget to hire a cleaning person?  Are you so busy trying to play catch up at home that you buy takeout food even though you would rather cook your family a healthy homemade meal?  You actually could have time to do that and save money if you let go of the cleaning responsibility.  Or maybe you always go out with friends instead of having them over because you are embarrassed at the state of your house.  Having people in rather than going out will save you money.  Maybe you have a lot of things that you need to get rid of that are just taking up space in your home.  Have a garage sale and earn the money to hire a cleaning person. As a bonus, you will also feel more relaxed in your home because of the reduced amount of clutter. 

These are just a few ideas to get you started thinking about how you can incorporate cleaning delagation into your life.  If your husband is opposed, tell him that you are giving him the opportunity to do all the cleaning for the next month.  I'll bet he decides that you can find the money somewhere!  

It should not be too hard to find someone to clean for you.  Ask around, post it on Facebook, and look in the classifieds.  If you are fearful to commit to someone then tell your potential recruit that you are looking for someone to help you "catch up" on housework.  This allows you a trial period to make sure you like their work, can trust them, and see if the scenario works for you.  That way if it doesn't work out you don't have to fire the person because it was just a temporary position to begin with.  And if it does work out then you can ask her to come back regularly. 

As a very part-time work-from-home mom I am dutifully keeping up on the housework in my home.  In my next post I will share how I have made that job less of a chore.  But you can bet when the time comes for me to get back into the workforce full-time the first thing I am doing is finding a cleaning person!  My time is much too valuable to spend with a toilet wand.  Bring on the magic wand!